An off-week NASCAR didn't need

Saturday

Mar 30, 2013 at 11:54 AMMar 30, 2013 at 4:54 PM

KEN WILLISSPORTS COLUMNIST

Oh, by the way, Junior is leading NASCAR's points standings.

Under normal circumstances, that'd be a big deal. And on Easter weekend, it may even be an opportunity for some to invite indignation (righteous and otherwise) by equating racing's most famous son with something holier than horsepower and handlin'.

But frankly, and amazingly, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is atop the standings and nobody seems to be talking about it. Largely because this has been a two-week stretch filled with the type of stuff that really drove Big Bill's numbered sedans from dirt to asphalt to the super highways of modern Sportsville.

(Quick aside: NASCAR's incredible run of good fortune slowed in recent years, which explains why, at a time when even the casual fans are paying attention, we get the rare off-week.)

Anyway, where to start? How about with the obvious and most visible: Denny versus Joey versus Tony versus his one-man crusade to rid the racing world of blocking – well, except at tracks where he deems it a necessary evil.

Like that first stalk of Mexican Petunia that pokes through in the garden, it seemed rather harmless when Denny Hamlin publicly tweaked a former teammate – Joey Logano – for what Hamlin considered a lack of smarts during the recently completed Daytona 500. But it wasn't long before the invasive back-and-forth spread to the track. And oh, how much fun it was.

Well, right up until we realized that, for whatever reason, even with all we know about Murphy's Law and worst-case scenarios and the life-saving qualities of the SAFER Barrier, there is exposed concrete at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

It's all fun and games until someone is stretchered to the chopper and air-lifted to a nearby hospital. Which leads us to Tony Stewart, who, even before he knew about Hamlin's pending helicopter trip, went after Logano for blatantly blocking to protect track position.

Tony went after Joey physically, which is entertaining because we suspect that someday, maybe someday, someone might actually land a punch in one of these things, and we want to be watching when it happens. OK, if it happens. Then Tony went after Joey verbally, taking some very personal shots that loudly signaled the long-awaited return of “Anthony,” Tony's evil twin who once resided around the nearest turn but now only shows up occasionally.

Great stuff. Which leads us to Hamlin's empty seat inside the No. 11 Toyota owned by Joe Gibbs. Like any old football coach, Gibbs reached out for a seasoned veteran to fill the void. And it seemed like a great fit – Mark Martin fills in for Hamlin, and Brian Vickers, already getting part-time duty during Martin's off-weeks with the No. 55 car, gets a few more races while Martin helps Gibbs.

Oops. Did we forget that professional auto racing is fueled by corporate interests, and that corporations interested in racing are highly interested in who wears their colors and represents them in the ever-present promotional campaigns? Aaron's, the company that funds the No. 55 team and therefore provides for Martin's paycheck, found it all so interesting – and not in a good way.

If you're paying Mark Martin to wear Aaron's logos and appear in Aaron's ads, you should probably assume you'll be asked to sign off on such a thing before you see Mark Martin jump inside a race car emblazoned with Fed Ex signage.

Which brings us back around to Denny Hamlin, whose new headlines definitely took the focus off those immediately preceding them. Remember a few weeks back when Hamlin was actually fined by the sport's governing body for relatively mild criticism of the new generation of race car?

Given the obvious PR backlash that would follow that publicly announced fine, you have to wonder why they didn't handle it in time-honored fashion: Tell Denny to stay on board with the positive Gen 6 spin, then reinforce the directive by keeping his car in the inspection garage a while (and, of course, a couple of inopportune speeding penalties as he enters or exits the pits).

But no, NASCAR is thoroughly owning the Hamlin fine. Chairman Brian France defended it in a get-together with media last week. He seemed to suggest it's OK for NASCAR to control the Gen 6 message because NASCAR is so lenient with other criticisms from drivers and teams.

“There is one line that we are not going to tolerate and that's going to be criticizing the quality of the racing product in any way, form or fashion,” said France, who, up until the last lap at Fontana, must've felt a bit like Nero.

And that's really the biggest news of the past week. The traditional sports-entertainment entities (NFL, NBA, MLB, etc.) generally draw the line at participants suggesting the officiating is horrible or even borderline crooked. NASCAR, long familiar with charges that it manipulates competition and doles out punishment with timely yellow flags and black flags, seems OK with those suggestions.

Heaven forbid, however, you take a small sample of lackluster races and insinuate the new car is a work in progress. But hey, they've been in business a long time and they don't fly coach. They don't even fly commercial. They must know something about business models.

Who knows, they might prove successful in controlling the message. If only they could've controlled the scheduling of fate. If they could, you can safely assume an off-week wouldn't have followed all that fun at Fontana.

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